Jeff Taylor, Miller Mills, Ganus and Colin Jacobs all had six rebounds.

“I hope the kids realize that if you play together and you play hard, you put yourself in positions to win,” Dillard said. “The past two games, we made some shots.”

Girls

New Bern71, J.H. Rose 55

J.J. Jones and Jacquia McCullough made their final home game count. Teana Lewis, Brianna Coor and Tomisha Davis showed what the future of New Bern girls’ basketball is going to look like.

Four scored in double figures as the Bears finished the regular season with a 71-55 win over visiting J.H. Rose on Senior Night Thursday in New Bern.

"The girls were fired up," New Bern coach Bill Bondurant said. "They’ve been in games all season, but the motivation for the six seniors was to go out and leave their mark. They are a team that fights hard."

McCullough, a senior, poured in a game-high 19 points, while her classmate Jones scored 16 points and had seven steals.

Lewis, a freshman, continued her scorching play with 12 points. She had 22 in New Bern’s loss to Laney Tuesday.

"They are unselfish," Bondurant said. "J.J. can take it to the hoop and score, but what has happened is that she is such a good passer and distributor, it takes a while for our players to be ready for it.

"Our players have gotten used to her good vision and they are getting it in their hands and finishing it."

New Bern (5-18, 2-8 Mideastern) jumped out to a 14-10 lead at the end of the first quarter, then extended it to 32-22 by halftime.

The Bears took their largest advantage, of 21 points, following a bucket by McCullough with 1:30 remaining in the third, then up its margin to 23 points with five minutes on the clock.

New Bern outscored Rose, 39-32, in the second half.

"Our ball movement was good and our foul shooting was improved," Bondurant said. "This team has learned that offense comes off of defense."

The Bears won the rebounding battle, 46-39, and forced 20 turnovers.

Six seniors played their final home game at New Bern — Jones, McCullough, Emilia Smith, Madison Garbark, Yvette Mitchell and Tierra Brimmage-Stevens.

New Bern will be the fifth seed in next week’s Mideastern Conference Tournament.